Faith to Walk on Water

(photo: view from our appartment in Alexandria)

We arrived back in Cairo yesterday, after a long car ride through the dessert. Last week was a good week, but tiring. We had three people join our team, Heather who is a Canadian and here in Egypt about one more month, and two Egyptians, Ehob, and Shaddi. Ehob is our translator, and Shaddi is Ehob's best friend who is learning english. We made some really good connections at some churches we visited, and we also spent some time in prayer. This week we are going to visit an orphanage from wednesday to friday, and then maybe head back to Alexandria next week and help out in an english speaking church. We really like Alexandria, the air is much cleaner there and the Mediterranean Sea is very beautiful. It going to be nice going back.

As for me I am learning alot. Fear is something that I have been dealing with for a while now. Even at home in Canada it is something I've struggled with. Being afraid to fail, and also being afraid of what people would think of me if I did fail. Then being here in Egypt a whole new area of fears came up such as not fealing secure or safe, and being unsure of how much danger we are in. God has been patiently teaching me though. I'm learning how pray and trust that God has heard that prayer and will keep me safe. Praying with trust is a faith builder I think. It really makes you rely on God more. God has also been giving me scripture sometimes through people and sometimes in my devotions that I can rest in. God has given us so many promises. He is always with us, he tells us to not be afraid, he also assures us that he will provide us with strength to get through any situation we are in if we rely on him. I came to this Trek program wanting to have my faith built, and I think God is really doing that. Yesterday while we were praying I had a picture of rain falling between two really high sky scrapers, and I really felt like God was just raining down his refreshing living water on each one of us on our team. God is soo good. Yesterday I was talking to my family on MSN and just saying how I never realized how much you can feel prayer out here. I don't think I would survive if people weren't praying for me and my team. Prayer sustains us.

Some prayer requests:

• God to give us patience with the Egyptian culture. Being efficient is not a priority here, relationships are, and sometimes that frusterates us as a team.



• For God to really soften our hearts towards the Egyptian people, and to start to understand the culture here a little more clearly.



• For safety for Sharalin and I especially. Being a North American girls here makes us vulnerable to be taken advantage of in the eyes of this culture because we aren't familiar with what's appropriate and what isn't and how to deal with that. (ei: a man who is not a friend touching our arm is very inappropriate, and letting him do that sends a bad message)



• For me to keep learning how to trust God, and to grow in my faith while I'm here.
  

I'll leave you with some more pictures from this week, and update again as soon as I can.

(Streets in Alexandia at night)

(a Mosaic Wall)